In recent years, mobile telecommunication devices have advanced from offering simple voice calling services within wireless communication networks to providing users with many new features. Mobile telecommunication devices now provide messaging services such as email, text messaging, and instant messaging; data services such as Internet browsing; media services such as storing and playing a library of favorite songs; location services; and many others. In addition to the new features provided by the mobile telecommunication devices, users of such mobile telecommunication devices have greatly increased. Such an increase in users is only expected to continue and, in fact, it is expected that there could be a growth rate of twenty times more users in the next few years alone.
Wireless communication networks generally operate by transmitting and distributing radio frequency (RF) signals to their customers, e.g., users of mobile telecommunication devices. Thus, operators of wireless communication networks need to be able to distribute the operating RF signals such that the RF signals can reach their customers, e.g., users, wherever they may be. For example, RF signals need to be able to reach a user's mobile telecommunication device in the user's cars, on streets, in the user's home, at work, etc. In providing coverage to customers at home and in the workplace, it is generally known that indoor coverage may be difficult due to signal path loss through the buildings themselves. For example, one specific impairment involves certain types of thermal coated low emissivity (Low-e) glass used for insulated windows. Such glass has been found to significantly prevent RF signals from passing through the glass, regardless of the frequency of the RF signals.
One previous attempt to improve transmission of RF signals into buildings includes the use of repeaters. In such an arrangement, repeaters have been proposed to capture outdoor RF signals and retransmit an amplified version of the RF signals indoors and vice versa. However, such an arrangement may be costly and time consuming in that such an arrangement requires a technician with technical skills that are above and beyond the skills of a typical consumer to effectively install a repeater system, which may make the solution impractical from a business perspective.